Latest news with #AzizulHaque
The Hindu
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Comrades bid emotional farewell to departed Naxal leader Azizul Haque
Kolkata bid an emotional farewell to deceased Naxal leader Azizul Haque on Tuesday (July 22, 2025). The veteran leader's passing marks the end of an era in radical Leftist politics of the State. He was 83 and passed away at a private city hospital on July 21. He was suffering from age-related ailments. Haque is survived by a daughter and wife. He had a son who passed away in 2003 in a road accident. Standing outside the iconic Indian Coffee House in central Kolkata's College Street, Haque's comrades, both old and young bid the stalwart leader goodbye. A poster at the gathering read 'Comrade Azizul Haque red salute'. Many of his old friends broke down as they offered flowers to the body and remembered Haque as a 'guiding light' in their political lives. Senior Leftist leaders such as Rabin Deb, Kartik Pal, Tanmoy Bhattacharya and many others were present at the farewell. 'Even though we may have differed politically, he knew how to talk to everyone and connect with people of different ideologies, he continued the necessary debates and inspired many young minds,' CPI(ML) polit bureau member Kartik Pal told The Hindu. Mr. Pal also highlighted that Haque and his fellow Naxalites helped bring change in Indian politics and put forth the rights of workers and marginalised people. 'Prominent face' 'Even after stepping back from active party politics, he continued to wield his pen and voice sharply against religious bigotry, the rise of right-wing forces, and the fascist projects of BJP-RSS combine until his final days. He was one of the most prominent faces of the 1970s Naxalbari movement in West Bengal. Long live Comrade Azizul Haque,' a statement from CPI(ML) Liberation read. Haque had suffered 18 years of incarceration after he was arrested on multiple occasions. Many of his political comrades alleged that he was tortured in police custody and suffered lifelong ailments and injuries because of the torture. Haque was one of the first Leftist leaders who was expelled from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for following his mentor Charu Mazumdar's ideology of 'bonduker nol-i, khomotar utsa' (power grows at the barrel of the gun). He co-founded the CPI(ML)'s Second Central Committee with Nishith Bhattacharya based on Mazumdar's ideologies. During their time, they had tried to establish parallel revolutionary governments in West Bengal and Bihar. The veteran leader was born in Howrah's Uluberia in 1942 and joined the Naxal movement early in life at the age of 17. He was born in an influential zamindari family but gave up his share of the land as a show of his political ideology. He was one of the faces of the Naxal uprising in the Sundarbans area and led a massive uprising against the local Pal Chowdhury zamindars of the area. After he was set free from prison for a second time in 1989, he took to writing about various social issues, including his own time in jail. He was a published author and wrote books such as Karagare Athero Bochor (Eighteen years in jail) and Naxalbari: Tirish Bochor Age Ebong Pore (Naxalbari: Thirty years before and after). A procession led by friends, admirers, many college students and comrades took the body to the Medical College, Kolkata and donated it to the government medical facility for research purposes as per Haque's wish. Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of CPI(ML), expressed his condolences over Haque's passing. 'Long years of incarceration and torture had badly impaired his health. Freed in 1989, he took to writing and championing the cause of various people's rights,' Mr. Bhattacharya wrote on X. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also offered her condolences and referred to him as a 'revolutionary and resolute leader who never bowed his head in his long political career.'
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Azizul Haque (1942-2025): He was the face of 1970s Naxalbari movement, believed in ‘power grows out of gun barrel'
Veteran Naxalite leader and one of the faces of the 1970s Naxalbari movement, Azizul Haque, passed away on Monday. He was 83. Haque, who had been suffering from ailments related to old age, was admitted to a private hospital in Salt Lake after a fall at home left him with a fractured hand. He passed away around 2:30 pm, sources said. Expressing her condolences, Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee on her 'X' handle said, ' 'I express my deep condolences on the passing of veteran politician Azizul Haque. Azizul Haque was a militant, struggling leader. He never bowed his head in his long political career. My deepest condolences to his bereaved family and associates.' A poet, political thinker and once the head of the CPI(ML)'s second central committee, Azizul Haque was born in 1942 in Ranmahal village in Howrah. Born to a huge zamindari family, Haque gave up his share of the land as a show of his political ideology. He arrived in Kolkata to study under the guidance of Nandgopal Bhattacharya. While studying with Nandgopal, Azizul met the communist leader Vishwanath Mukhopadhyay, which led to his involvement in the leftist movement. Azizul belonged to the generation of Naxal leaders who believed that 'Bonduker nol-i, khomotar utsa' ( Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun) a concept was popularised by their ideological mentor, Charu Mazumdar, in India during the sixties and seventies. At just 17 years old, Azizul joined the undivided Communist Party. He got injured while participating in the food movement procession. Although Jyoti Basu became closely associated with the mass movement, Azizul opposed Basu's political stance and accepted Charu Mazumdar as his leader. A close associate of Charu Mazumdar and Kanai Chatterjee, Haque was a key figure in sustaining the Naxalbari uprising long after it was suppressed. Expelled from CPI(M) for endorsing Mazumdar's radical views, he co-founded the CPI(ML)'s Second Central Committee with Nishith Bhattacharya after the latter's death. Together, they attempted to establish parallel revolutionary governments in rural Bengal and Bihar during the late 1970s, but were expelled following a ceasefire with the West Bengal government. First arrested in the Parvathipuram conspiracy case in 1970, Haque spent nearly two decades in prison, with his re-arrest in 1982 prompting outrage even within the ruling Left Front, leading to calls for his parole from jail ministers. His book Karagare Atharo Bochor (Eighteen Years in Jail) is a poignant account of the Naxalite movement and ideological perseverance. While his later writings, such as 'Naxalbari: Tirish Bochor Aage ebong Pare', ( Naxalbari: 30 years before and after) continued to critique establishment thinking. Notably, he supported the CPI(M)'s industrialisation drive in Singur in 2006, distancing himself from many of his former comrades who opposed land acquisition. 'Leftism is to walk against the current,' he often said, and till the end, his pen remained active-contributing columns and essays to leading dailies and journals, always with a streak of rebellion.
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Radical Left leader Azizul Haque passes away at 85
1 2 3 Kolkata: Veteran Naxalite leader Azizul Haque, also a writer, columnist, and a prominent Leftist thinker, died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Monday afternoon. He was 85. Haque, who was jailed for 18 years during the Seventies and Eighties, was suffering from multiple age-related ailments, including an infection in his blood, and was on ventilation. Haque was born in 1942 in a zamindar family in Uluberia. He came in contact with communist leader Biswanath Mukhopdhyay as a student and became a member of the undivided Communist Party at 17. In 1959, he joined the food movement and was injured during an agitation, Haque was a prominent CPI-ML leader at the height of the Naxalite movement. He was jailed on multiple charges and spent nearly two decades behind bars. After his release in 1977, he rejoined the movement and had formed a 'revolutionary govt' in some districts of south Bengal and Bihar. He was jailed again in 1982, and was released in 1989 after it was revealed that he was allegedly tortured in jail, leading to crippling injuries. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Haque was a student of Calcutta University. Though he stayed away from active politics subsequently, he continued to write on politics. He founded the 'Bhasha Shahid Smarak Commitee' that campaigned for Bengali language and the rights of people. His book 'Karagare 18 Bachhar' narrates his horrific experiences in jail, being physically abused, and watching his party colleagues being brutally tortured or dying in custody. His book and his subsequent campaign for the release of political prisoners was an important phase of Bengal politics in the Eighties. Despite being frail and fighting multiple ailments, Haque remained uncompromising in his stance against capitalism and held on to his radical Leftist belief. During the Singur agitation, Haque sided with the CPM govt and said he agreed with then CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's opinion that a farmer's son need not be a farmer. If farmers stuck to agriculture, they will lose out in the long run, he wrote in a vernacular daily. CM Mamata Banerjee expressed her condolences on X. "I express my condolences at the demise of veteran leader Azizul Haque. He was a fighting leader who never bowed to anyone in his long political career. I convey my empathy to his family and associates," she wrote.
New Indian Express
21-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Veteran Naxalite leader Azizul Haque dies at 83; end of era for Bengal's radical politics
KOLKATA: Azizul Haque --firebrand poet, political thinker and one of the last towering leaders of India's Naxalite uprising-- died here on Monday, marking the end of a turbulent, blood-soaked chapter in Bengal's radical Left history that once shook the nation in the 1960s and '70s. He was 83. Haque, who was born in Howrah in 1942, belonged to the generation of Naxal leaders who believed that 'bonduker nol-i, khomotar utsa' (Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun), a doctrine popularised by their ideological mentor, Charu Mazumdar, who made the Mao Zedong's slogan popular in India in the Sixties and Seventies. A poet, political thinker and once the head of the CPI(ML)'s second central committee, Haque had long been battling illness and was admitted to ICU after a fall at home that left him with a fractured hand. He breathed his last at 2:28 PM, sources said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed deep condolences on X, describing Haque as a "fighter who never bowed down in his long political life." "I express my condolences at the passing of veteran politician Azizul Haque. Azizul Haque was a fighter, a resolute leader. In his long political career, he never bowed his head. I extend my heartfelt condolences to his bereaved family and associates," she posted on X.
